The rights of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords were scrapped in 1999 but 92 hereditaries were allowed to stay on until the reform programme was complete.

Earlier this year, in a series of complex votes, MPs and peers narrowly rejected plans for a mostly elected upper house.

That vote included defeat for the prime minister's favoured option of an all-appointed second chamber.

Since then, a joint committee charged with examining the issue of Lords reform has said it would examine at least removing the remaining 92 hereditary peers.

It has been waiting for the government's own proposals.

Archer exile?

Mr Blair hopes the promise of an independent appointments commission, ending prime ministerial powers of patronage, will end charges that he wants to fill the upper house with "Tony's cronies".

Conservative Lords Leader Lord Strathclyde, one of the 92 remaining hereditaries, was worried the appointments' commision would be designed to suit the government of the day.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was worried the plans are "fundamentally about rigging the Lords, fixing the votes so that it suits the government more... they are going to make it seem as if they
own the British constitution and they know best."

Democracy worries

Lord Strathclyde said the hereditary peerage had come to an end in 1999 but removing the last hereditary peers would end any serious Lords reform efforts.

There was criticism too from Meg Russell, of think-tank the Constitution Unit.

"Since the hereditary peers are ironically the only elected members of the House of Lords, it is hard to claim that removing them makes the chamber more democratic."

Campaign group Charter88 said it would be a bad day for UK democracy if the limit of the next stage of reform was the removal of the remaining hereditary peers.

"The reality of democracy under Blair is government of the few and by the few. Tony's cronies continue to rule."